If ever there was a day when the replacing Carl Starfelt was needing to be addressed, today is that day. Especially after Cameron Carter-Vickers was taken off against Aberdeen at halftime in the 3-1 win at Pittodrie.
The American defender continues to be a rock at the heart of the Celtic defence and his absence was certainly felt towards the end of last season.
However, he returned to first-team action at the beginning of this season and stability and calmness returned to the Hoops backline.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed that the 25-year-old felt an issue with his hamstring and whilst it was impossible to tell what the exact issue was, from experience, we all know that a hamstring injury is not good news.
So that leads us to the next question. Now that Carl Starfelt is gone, when does the Celtic manager expect to see his replacement come in?
Rodgers was asked on Sky Sports this afternoon how close a deal was being to concluded to address that issue and the Celtic boss replied simply, “Very close. I’m pretty sure that next week we’ll get that done.”
Of course, that deal is extremely likely to be involving Gustaf Lagerbiekle. Celtic have been strongly linked to the Swedish defender and 67 Hail Hail has discussed already that a medical to bring him to the club in a £2.9m deal was ‘imminent’.
Today’s injury scare to Carter-Vickers brings into focus the need to get that deal concluded as soon as possible. Don’t get me wrong, Stephen Welsh equipped himself well today in the second half against The Dons, but doubts remain about whether or not Brendan Rodgers sees his long-term future at the club.
For now, we will keep our fingers crossed that the injury to Carter-Vickers is not too serious. Hopefully, he will be back in a Celtic jersey before too long.
But that doesn’t detract from the need to get another centre half in sooner rather than later and it’s great to hear that the Celtic boss seems pretty confident that will happen in the coming days.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers provides updates on Carter-Vickers and Hatate after Celtic injury scares
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